Devices or “meters” used in the metering of postage value, such as for printing postage indicia used in posting mail pieces, typically include a vault mechanism having at least a descending register and an ascending register. Such a vault mechanism originated as an electromechanical device and has more recently been implemented as a secure electronic memory, often referred to as a postage security device (PSD).
The descending register provides a balance of prepaid postage value and is generally affected by two meter operations. A postage value download (PVD) meter operation increments the descending register in the amount of a postage value prepayment. For example, if a user purchases $10 of postage, the postage value stored in the descending register is incremented by $10 to increase the postage value available using the meter. Postal authorities, such as the United States Postal Service (USPS), often establish limits on the amount of postage value that may be downloaded in a postage value download operation and/or the maximum amount of postage value that may be held by a descending register in order to prevent fraud or misuse. A postage value decrementing operation is performed with respect to the descending register each time the meter is used to generate a postage indicium. For example, if a user operates the meter to generate a $0.39 postage indicium to apply to a first class mail piece, the aforementioned $10 of postage value stored by the descending register will be decremented by $0.39 to leave a postage value balance of $9.61. The descending register is never permitted to have a balance of less than $0, and is often not permitted to descend below some non-zero threshold amount (e.g., $1).
The ascending register provides a total of all postage value dispensed or metered by the meter. That is, the ascending register is incremented each time the meter is used to generate a postage indicium. For example, if a user operates a meter previously used in generating a total of $5.00 in postage indicia to generate a $0.39 postage indicium, the ascending register will be incremented by $0.39 to result in an ascending register total of $5.39. The ascending register is typically used in meter reconciliation operations, such as at the time of postage value download, in order to detect fraud or operational anomalies. A meter's service life is often dictated by a maximum allowable ascending register amount (e.g., $10,000) in order to limit the propensity for fraud.
Although the foregoing meter configuration provides an adequate postage metering solution for many metering applications, it is not without disadvantage. For example, from the above, it is clear that payment must be made (e.g., money deposited) prior to generating postage indicium. This prepayment model has historically been required by postal authorities in order to avoid losses associated with nonpayment for postage indicia. Moreover, the prepayment model has typically been acceptable to meter users as such meters have traditionally been used by a single entity (e.g., business entity or person) which has the ability to forecast postage needs and thus can relatively accurately plan and prepay for postage needs. Despite accurate forecasting and proper planning, however, problems can arise in acquiring postage value for metering operations. For example, electronic meters are often funded using credit cards or other electronic forms of payment which may experience problems (e.g., due to credit card clearing house problems) causing delays in obtaining postage value download and thus delaying the ability to generate desired postage indicia. Moreover, mailing tasks requiring large amounts of postage (e.g., monthly billings, mass promotional mailings, etcetera) may necessitate close monitoring of available postage value and repeated postage value download in order to generate a total amount of postage indicia desired in light of postage value download and/or descending register maximum limits.
Moreover, in arriving at the present invention, the inventors hereof have discovered that the use of the prepayment model with its descending register as set forth above is disadvantageous with respect to a relatively new type of postage meter user. Specifically, users that provide postage metering services to their clients or customers (the users providing the services referred to herein as providers and their clients or customers referred to herein as end users) experience difficulty in the prepayment model. For example, such providers may be providing postage metering services to a large number of end users, and thus be unable to forecast and plan for the needed postage value. Moreover, limits set by the postal authority with respect to postage value download and/or descending register maximum amounts may be insufficient to serve end user demands for a desired period, thereby necessitating close monitoring of available postage value and repeated postage value download. Delays in processing postage value download, such as due to credit card clearing house problems or delays, may result in a large number of end users being dissatisfied with the providers' service.